As the demand for metals and critical minerals rises to support the energy transition, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has become an emerging technology in the mining industry. This technology enables rapid high-resolution, microscale chemical mapping of rocks and minerals, offering insights into mineral distribution and texture, which is essential for ore body knowledge across the life of mine. These insights provide vital information for geometallurgical domain definition and geochemical vectoring assessments that may facilitate discovery of new resources and/or extending the life of existing mines. Common protocols for developing ore body knowledge rely on visual geological logging, highly subjective and reliant on geological experience, and chemical assay procedures (typically 1 to 2 m intervals). Although several core scanning technologies are widely available to augment geological logging (e.g., hyperspectral or XRF scanning), these techniques are costly and time-consuming and have limited application for determination of critical metals. Similarly, other mineralogical techniques including automated mineralogy (MLA, QEMSCAN, TIMA), XRD and micro-XRF provide valuable, but limited insights into critical metals which may occur only in trace abundance in a range of minerals. This study exhibits the applicability of LIBS as a viable alternative for fast data acquisition in mineral exploration and geometallurgy projects.
Half-core rock samples from the Maronan deposit (Cloncurry, QLD) and from regional exploration drilling around the Mt Isa Pb-Zn-Cu deposit were analysed using an the Elemission Coriosity LIBS analyser. In addition, a series of 1-inch (2.5 cm) diameter polished mounts containing particles and rock chips from a range of mineral deposits were analysed.
